Word: confucians
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Chen is not a man with his eyes shut running rapidly backward to 500 B.C. He reads, and admires, philosophers of change, especially Henri Bergson. But Chen insists that since billions of Chinese people have carried on the world's most stable society on Confucian principles, those principles must be reapplied, not abandoned. Confucius said: "A river, like truth, flows forever and will have no end." Chen does not want the continuity of Chinese society submerged under Western ideas of individualism or materialism...
There is nothing hopelessly mysterious about the Confucian principles Chen Li-fu wants to refurbish. Essentially, Confucianism teaches that human nature is good,* that harmony among men is the goal of life, that rulers rule by example and exhortations to virtue. However, the Confucian system assumes that government shall rest in the hands of scholars and of gentle and honorable men-the chiin-tzu. The benevolent paternalism of the chiin-tzu ideal (still reflected in China's 36-year Kuomintang "tutelage" and in much of the new Constitution) is not popular government as the West understands it. To many...
...Communion of Hsiao. To Chen Li-fu, the way to virtue (and orderly society) is expressed in the word hsiao. To understand the Confucian notion of hsiao is to understand a great deal about Chen Li-fu and his China. Hsiao means, roughly, filial piety. But it stands for more than that. It means that the individual is nothing, the family everything. Hsiao holds Chinese society together; but it is also used as an excuse for graft and nepotism. Hsiao imposes on a man responsibilities the West does not know; but it also tends to modify the sense of personal...
Firm in his Confucian belief in the necessity of social harmony, Chen is convinced that what he most hates in Communism is belief in the necessity of the class struggle: "Communism in China will fail because it creates an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust within the family." Chen says he is not opposed to Socialism. He points to the Three People's Principles of Sun Yat-sen-San Min Chu I-nationalism, democracy and livelihood for the people. To him, the "People's Livelihood'' principle means, one day, social insurance, free health services and schools everywhere...
...says: "The essence of life is the performance of benevolence." Although Chen, fighting fire with fire, has performed many a non-benevolent act, he means what he says. He is willing to help lead China-slowly-toward something the West might recognize as democratic and Chen would recognize as Confucian...